Providing for Congressional Disapproval of the Rule Submitted By the Bureau of Land Management Relating to ``Central Yukon Record of Decision and Approved Resource Management Plan''

Floor Speech

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Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 672, I call up the joint resolution (H.J. Res. 106) providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Bureau of Land Management relating to ``Central Yukon Record of Decision and Approved Resource Management Plan'', and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

The Clerk read the title of the joint resolution.

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Mr. WESTERMAN. Res. 106.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.J. Res. 106, a Congressional Review Act resolution led by Congressman Nick Begich of Alaska. This CRA reverses a resource management plan, or RMP, for the central Yukon region in Alaska, which locked up an astonishing 13.3 million acres of land.

Alaska is crucial to our national security and economic prosperity. In 2020, President Trump announced a draft RMP for the central Yukon that, among other provisions, revoked Public Land Order 5150 and unleashed American energy.

For more than a decade, the State of Alaska has worked on this RMP to revoke Public Land Order 5150, which would unlock millions of acres of land from restrictive, de facto wilderness management and return it to multiple use.

Unfortunately, the previous administration reversed this decision against the wishes of Alaskans and finalized a new RMP that enshrined Public Land Order 5150.

On his first day in office in 2025, President Trump issued Executive Order No. 14153 on ``Unleashing Alaska's Extraordinary Resource Potential,'' which directly called for repealing the Biden administration's central Yukon RMP. This CRA advances President Trump's executive order.

Why is this CRA so important? Revoking Public Land Order 5150 is the first step in allowing the State of Alaska to acquire lands that are critical to two essential projects: Ambler Road and the Alaska LNG pipeline.

Currently, our adversaries have a choke hold on worldwide mineral supply chains. Alaska, our 49th State, has rich deposits of 49 out of the 50 minerals on the critical minerals list.

With such abundant resources in our own backyard, it should be appalling to every American that the United States relies 100 percent on imports for 12 of the 50 critical minerals on the critical minerals list. What is more, our Nation is 50 percent net import reliant for an additional 29 critical minerals on the list.

The smartphones that we carry around every day in our pockets contain 15 critical minerals. Computers, home appliances, and batteries all rely on critical minerals.

The Ambler Mining District in Alaska is home to some of the largest deposits of these minerals, including copper, cobalt, and zinc. Just four deposits in the Ambler Mining District alone have an estimated resource value of $26 billion.

Currently, there is no way to access these minerals. To do so, we need to construct Ambler Road. Last year, the Biden administration denied a permit for Ambler Road, effectively preventing Alaskans from developing their own resources.

Passing this CRA is the first step in allowing Alaska to acquire these lands outright, creating long-term certainty for this project.

Constructing this road and allowing access to the Ambler Mining District is expected to create thousands of new jobs and produce $1.1 billion of revenue for Alaska. Road construction alone will create more than 350 jobs, creating economic opportunity desperately needed in rural Alaska.

Keep in mind, this is only one project unlocked by this CRA. This CRA will also help the advancement of the Alaska LNG pipeline project.

Global demand for energy is expected to double by 2050, and our domestic energy production must rise to meet that demand. With the rise of data centers and AI fueling this growth, it is more important than ever that we produce energy here at home rather than ceding energy dominance to hostile foreign nations like China and Russia.

Once online, the project will produce 3.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas daily and sustain more than 10,000 jobs. Through this project, Alaskans will gain long-term and affordable gas for home heating and industrial needs.

Currently, the gas supply for Alaska from the Cook Inlet is uncertain, and local utilities are evaluating alternate supplies, including importing LNG. It goes against all common sense to import LNG into Alaska when the State is blessed with abundant resources that can supply the State and beyond.

Every action must be taken to provide North Slope-produced gas to Alaskans for their home heating and local industry needs. In addition to providing gas to Alaska, the Alaska LNG pipeline will be able to export 20 million tons of LNG yearly, reaching our Asian allies in 6 days with no strategic choke points. It is no exaggeration to say that creating this pipeline is one of the most crucial steps we can take to counter China's influence in the Indo-Pacific.

Earlier this year, I led a bipartisan congressional delegation to Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea. Taiwan has already signed a letter of intent with the State of Alaska to purchase Alaskan LNG, and both Japan and South Korea are deeply interested in pursuing American energy from Alaska as well as other Pacific Rim nations.

The message we heard at each stop was universal and resounding: Without certainty in the timeline and our permitting system, these countries won't be able to buy our energy.

Make no mistake, these are our allies, and they desperately want to buy American. They would much rather get their energy from the North Slope than from China and Russia, the friends of North Korea.

Today's CRA is the first step in providing energy certainty to Alaska and our allies abroad. We are taking strong, decisive action to remove barriers that prevent us from accessing our own energy and minerals.

By unleashing Alaska's extraordinary resource potential, we are providing energy certainty and affordability to Alaska and creating thousands of well-paying jobs, generating billions of dollars in revenue for Federal and State coffers, and keeping America and our allies safe from foreign adversaries.

I commend Representative Begich, the entire Alaska delegation, and Governor Dunleavy for their work on this effort.

Mr. Speaker, I will point out the great work that my colleague from Alaska has done on this issue and the potential that is in Alaska.

We had the Committee on Natural Resources up there last week, and we had a bipartisan group there turning around and looking at all of the many, many resources that are in Alaska, the vast size of Alaska, and the burdens that the Federal Government has put on the State and really, I think, fallen short of living up to the promises that were made when Alaska became a State. We talked about Native Americans and their input in the process.

Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record this letter from Doyon Limited. Doyon, Limited, Fairbanks, AK, July 21, 2025. Hon. Nicholas J. Begich III House of Representatives, Washington, DC.

Dear Representative Begich: Thank you for introducing H.J. Res. 106, to disapprove the November 12, 2024, Central Yukon Record of Decision and Approved Resource Management Plan (Central Yukon RMP). Doyon, Limited (Doyon) strongly supports this joint resolution and urges Congress's and the President's swift action to reject this misguided and harmful planning decision.

Doyon is a major stakeholder in the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) Central Yukon RMP planning process. Many large tracts of lands that were conveyed to Doyon under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) are surrounded by, or abut, BLM-managed public lands. Doyon owns substantial interests in the Central Yukon Planning Area, holding an ownership interest in approximately 4.65 million acres. In addition, it has selected an additional 127,000 acres in the Planning Area under ANCSA that have not yet been conveyed. Doyon's land base shares approximately 3,000 miles of border with BLM lands--potentially more than any other Indigenous landowner in the nation. Consistent with ANCSA's intent, much of the land that Doyon selected was selected for its economic development potential.

As Doyon explained to BLM throughout the Central Yukon RMP planning process, further enveloping Doyon's lands within new or expanded Areas of Critical Environmental Concern (ACECs) and other restrictive land designations, and otherwise imposing restrictions on use of surrounding lands, will further complicate access to and use of Doyon lands, and potentially prevent Doyon from fully realizing the economic and other benefits that Congress intended it would enjoy as a result of ANCSA's settlement of aboriginal land claims. In addition, because oil and gas, mineral, and other resource prospects often straddle federal, state, and/or private lands, the more that BLM planning processes place lands off limits to multiple uses, the more likely resource development opportunities will be unavailable on Doyon (and other non- federal) lands in the vicinity, impeding Doyon's ability to make economically productive use of its lands as Congress intended when it settled aboriginal land claims in Alaska. The management decisions made in the 2024 Central Yukon RMP also will have long-term implications for communications, electric transmission, and other infrastructure activities in the region, adding further obstacles to what already are extraordinary challenges to connecting rural communities in Alaska.

Doyon devoted significant resources to engaging with BLM over the course of the Central Yukon RMP planning process to ensure that the result of that process reflects the principles of multiple use and sustained yield established under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act, as well as the unique framework that Congress established in Alaska under ANCSA and Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA). Unfortunately, despite these concerted efforts of Doyon and others, the 2024 plan fails to do that.

Key flaws justifying congressional disapproval of the 2024 Central Yukon RMP--as further detailed in the protest that Doyon submitted in response to the Central Yukon Proposed Resource Management Plan and Final Environmental Impact Statement released by BLM on April 19, 2024--include the following:

The 2024 Central Yukon RMP improperly designates certain ACECs/Research Natural Areas by including areas that do not meet applicable requirements for designation and management of ACECs and improperly determines special management attention is required. It also improperly designates ACECs that effectively surround or restrict access to Doyon- conveyed lands, as well as that include Doyon-selected lands.

The 2024 Central Yukon RMP fails to appropriately address impacts of right-of-way exclusion and avoidance areas on access and other activities.

The 2024 Central Yukon RMP fails to adequately and appropriately address access rights guaranteed under Section 1323(b) and Title XI of ANILCA.

The 2024 Central Yukon RMP inappropriately concludes that hypothetical future development of mineral deposits in the Ambler Mining District, Wiseman East and West deposits, and the Ray Mountains could ``significantly restrict subsistence uses and have a disproportionate negative impact'' on certain ``environmental justice communities'' as well as ``significantly restrict subsistence uses for'' certain communities.

The 2024 Central Yukon RMP fails to fully consider potential impacts of designating certain lands as Visual Resource Management (VRM) Class II and redesignate them as VRM Class III or IV.

The 2024 Central Yukon RMP improperly ignores the long history of BLM's calling for the lifting of the ANCSA 17(d)(1) withdrawals and fails to provide a rational explanation for retaining those withdrawals other than for the limited purposes of selection by Alaska Native Vietnam- era veterans.

The 2024 Central Yukon RMP violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) in adopting a new alternative not made available to the public for review and comment and in not providing the public an opportunity to provide informed comment after correction of an error in stated ANCSA 17(d)(1) acreages.

We appreciate your efforts to move forward with disapproval of the 2024 Central Yukon RMP and we urge Congress and the President to move quickly to enact this joint resolution.

Please let us know if you have any questions or if we can provide any additional information. Sincerely, Sarah E. Obed, SVP External Affairs Doyon, Limited.

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Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I will read from this letter to show what is really happening in Alaska.

It says: ``Doyon strongly supports this joint resolution and urges Congress' and the President's swift action to reject this misguided and harmful planning decision.

``Many large tracts of lands that were conveyed to Doyon under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act [ANCSA] are surrounded by, or abut, BLM-managed public lands. Doyon owns substantial interests in the Central Yukon Planning Area, holding an ownership interest in approximately 4.65 million acres.

``Doyon's land base shares approximately 3,000 miles of border with BLM lands--potentially more than any other indigenous landowner in the Nation. Consistent with ANCSA's intent, much of the land that Doyon selected was selected for its economic development potential.

``As Doyon explained to BLM throughout the Central Yukon RMP planning process, further enveloping Doyon's lands within new or expanded Areas of Critical Environmental Concern [ACECs] and other restrictive land designations, and otherwise imposing restrictions on use of surrounding lands, will further complicate access to and use of Doyon lands, and potentially prevent Doyon from fully recognizing the economic and other benefits that Congress intended it would enjoy as a result of ANCSA's settlement of aboriginal land claims.''

That is from the people who were affected on the ground by this misguided resource management plan that the previous administration put in place. It is an honor to be here today to be able to use the CRA to, hopefully, reverse that plan and prevent other administrations in the future, from either party, from putting such ridiculous management plans in place.

Mr. Speaker, this idea that Alaska native Vietnam-era veterans can't select lands is just factually inaccurate and fear-mongering.

Congress has already statutorily codified the Alaska Native Vietnam- era Veterans Land Allotment Program in 2019. Nothing in this CRA repeals those requirements under the 2019 law. In fact, the House just passed a 5-year extension of this program in July. To suggest that we are now somehow unsupportive of this program is ludicrous.

Congress is using the CRA for this RMP because there weren't enough public land order revocations, not because there were too many. Keeping the withdrawal revocations for Alaska native Vietnam-era veterans and adding new withdrawal revocations would be entirely consistent with the CRA. The argument is ironic coming from my colleagues on the other side of the aisle as Secretary Haaland unnecessarily delayed the implementation of this program for years, despite strong demands from the Alaska delegation that outdated PLOs be lifted so land selections could begin.

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Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time. I am prepared to close and reserve the balance of my time.

This CRA is crucial to unleashing Alaska's abundant natural resources. It will unleash billions of dollars' worth of oil, natural gas, and critical minerals that are critical not only to Alaska's economy and security but also to the economic and energy security of the United States and will extend further to our allies around the world.

This is a very important issue. This CRA shifts land management back to Alaskans and away from NGOs and environmentalists in the lower 48 who have had way too much of an oversized impact on the decisions made in Alaska. It is essential to projects that will create tens of thousands of jobs, generate billions of dollars in revenue for the U.S. Treasury and the State of Alaska, and again make our Nation less reliant on hostile foreign nations.

I commend Representative Begich once again for his work on this effort. He is a tremendous and fierce advocate for Alaska. Through his efforts, we are helping President Trump and his administration advance executive orders and usher in the golden age of American and Alaskan energy dominance.

Mr. Speaker, I urge adoption of this joint resolution, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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